Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether covid-19 restrictions on funeral services will be eased before workers operating within that sector have been offered a covid-19 vaccine.
Funeral staff are eligible for prioritisation if they carry out functions requiring contact with multiple vulnerable patients in a healthcare setting and are at a high risk of exposure to COVID-19. Such funeral operatives were being offered vaccinations by 15 February.
The COVID-19 Response – Spring 2021 published on 22 February provides a roadmap, with four steps, to ease out of the current lockdown in England. Rules around funerals will not change; these can proceed with 30 attendees during the first three steps, with the aim to remove all restrictions by step four. The roadmap is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-response-spring-2021